I thought it was time to talk once more about stuff that has hit the table since the previous update.

Star Wars Unlimited: I’m not going to spend much time about this first game. We know how I feel about. I will briefly say that the two spotlight decks are great fun to play and really play into their mechanics. I like that. Great examples of deck building for new players.

Hegemony: aka class war! Archie played the working class, I was the middle class, Charlene was the capitalists, and Marcin the state.

Each of those classes play differently, have different objectives etc. Each player trying to play to their classes strengths.

Yes it’s a longish game (ours was about four and half hours) that could be longer if playing with those inflicted with analysis paralysis. But like TI4 time flies by and doesn’t seem that long.

I can see why people like this game. I enjoyed playing the game. Would most definitely play again.

Sadly the deep state ran riot and easily won.

Emberleaf: I enjoyed this cute looking game. I particularly like the card element building an engine and the sliding of cards to get a benefit (possibly) and return them to hand. You also have a touch of hand management.

Add in the other elements such as tile placement, card drafting to strengthen your hand. You get a fun enjoyable game.

Fate of the Fellowship: the latest (delayed) hotness. Ok this wasn’t a perfect play. There were one or two rules misplays. But hey it was a first play.

But boy does it have a great table presence. From the incredibly impressive dice tower (a pain to put together) to the nasgul and wooden printed character meeples.

I think this is probably the most complex pandemic based game I’ve played so far. Which probably makes it the least new player friendly.

Obviously I love the theme. And I think they’ve done a great job of capturing the essence of the books. From trying to destroy the rings, to creating distractions to help Frodo and Sam get to Mordor.

Obviously being a pandemic game Sauron aka the game won.

Wondrous Creatures: a three player game. I loved the greater competitiveness over spots on the board. However this admittedly being only my second game I don’t get how people think this is overly long. That’s not been our experience at all so far.

Forests of Pangai: with art work that brings to mind the Studio Ghibli classic Princess Mononoke.

An interesting game that has an element of area control, resource gathering, pattern matching. In some ways it’s similar to the bastard panda game (as my departed and missed friend Ben used to call it) aka Takenoko.

I love the table presence of the game.

Now I have to debate if I try and get a copy.

Machi Koro 2: I had previously owned Machi Koro plus its first expansion. Had even tracked down the promo cards and paid over the odds for the play mat. In the end I traded it away to Gavin. Over the last couple of years I had toyed with the idea of getting the game again. But in the intervening years there had been another expansion, anniversary edition, and second edition. With all the choice my indecision about what to buy got in the way.

However on an impulse I picked up the second edition at this years expo.

There basic game play hasn’t changed. But there are a couple of rule changes that if I had the early editions I’d house rule. The first is the trade rows. They must contain five unique buildings. If duplicates are drawn they go on top of the other copy. You then draw again, repeating until there are five unique buildings.

The second rule change is right from the git go you decide whether you roll one or two dice on your turn, instead of having to unlock the second die.

It’s a nice, fairly quick entry level game. Depending on the buildings you buy there can be some take that. In my game with Marcin there was a bit of me taking regular amounts of money off of him.

War: yeah still a favourite quick two player skirmish game. I just love how quick it is to teach and play.

And that’s my most recent gaming and some brief thoughts on the games.